Learning Opportunities
If you love to experience local culture when you travel, enjoy off the beaten-path treasures, and want to interact with nature, you’ve come to the right place.
KIS Botanicals hosts incredible opportunities that are suited for the budding herbalist, the curious traveler, the ethnobotanist, and the whole family.
If you are traveling to Costa Rica, we can guarantee you’ll love what we’ve got planned out for you, mostly because we LOVE what we do!
Our current offerings:
1. CULTURAL AND MEDICINAL PLANT WALK
2. THE ELEMENTS OF HERBALISM
3. MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL PRODUCTS
4. TALKING TO PLANTS
5. TROPICAL HERBAL DEEP DIVE
6. THE CELEBRATION: A HERBAL DAY
7. BUILD YOUR HERBAL DAY
8. SOIL EXPLORATION
9. INDIGENOUS AGRICULTURE
Please ask about group rates. Contact us for more details and reserve your spot!
CULTURAL AND MEDICINAL PLANT WALK
How did our family survive in the jungle before running water, buses (and roads!) to the supermarket, electricity, and doctors nearby?
Come to walk leisurely with us while we share our local history and culture. During this interactive tour, you will meet 20-30 plants and we will share our family's indigenous Huetar stories about their uses of plants, and together explore the many gifts that Mother Earth has to offer. This is a great introduction to tropical herbs and local culture!
By appointment only.
Time: 1.5+/- hours
Cost: $20 per person
Kid friendly!
THE ELEMENTS OF HERBALISM
A discovery of how traditional healers used the elements (earth, water, fire, air) of people and plants to cure ailments. We will pair the elements with teas and take a short walk around the farm to experience and see the elements in the plants. This is great for budding herbalists as well as experienced herbalists who want to deepen their connection with living plants.
By appointment only.
TIme: 1.5-2 hours
Cost: $25 per person (minimum $50 if 1 person).
MAKE YOUR OWN HERBAL PRODUCTS: Medicine Making Workshop
Come and learn to make herbal products with us. Together, we will enjoy a short leisurely walk to explore some medicinal plants growing on our farm. We will share with you an ancestral recipe (or two!) and how our abuelos used Mother Earth's gifts. Your imagination will take you back in history, as we combine tradition with modern and scientific herbal medicine making techniques.
You will leave with an herbal a tea, a tincture and/or a salve made by you!
By appointment only.
Time: 2-2.5 hours
Cost: $30 (minimum $60 if one person)
Kid friendly!
TALKING TO PLANTS
A moment to learn about plant and flower essences. You will learn how to ground yourself using the help of trees, create a small ceremony to have a conversation with plants, and make a plant or flower essence to take with you.
By appointment only.
Time: 2+/- hours
Cost: $30 per person (or $60 if one person)
TROPICAL HERBAL DEEP DIVE
A 4 hour day of botanical learning. You will take a deep dive with 10-15 plants, observing them on the farm, harvesting them and making a tea, tincture or salve with many of them. Small meal included. This is great for those who want to deepen their connection to plants.
By appointment only.
Time: 4+/- hours
Cost: $125 per person (or $200 if one person)
THE CELEBRATION: A HERBAL DAY
A 6 hour day of learning about tropical herbs. This combines many of our offerings. We will talk about the elements of herbalism, go on a couple herbal walks, harvest from our farm, and enjoy making teas, tinctures, salves, and / or other herbal products. Lunch included. With 3 or more people, this can be a 2-day event.
By appointment only.
Time: 4+/- hours
Cost: $200 per person (or $300 if one person)
BUILD YOUR HERBAL DAY
Tell us what YOU want to learn, for a half day or a full day, and we will build a day especially for YOU. Select from: herbal walk, elements of herbalism, indigenous agriculture techniques, how to use the moon to plant your garden/farm, how we distil our own alcohol, how to make: a salve, a tincture, tea, vinegar, a hydrosol, plant / flower essence, a face mask using local plants and materials, a shampoo / conditioner using local plants, etc.
This is great for groups.
Prices vary, please inquire.
SOIL EXPLORATION
Investigate several different types of soil to answer the question: what is soil and how is it made? This hands-on workshop incorporates discovery, observation, imagination, and science.
By appointment only.
Time: 1.5 hours
Cost: $30 per person (or $60 if one person)
Great for anyone age 5 and older.
Kid Friendly!
INDIGENOUS AGRICULTURE
Take a walk to learn with a local indigenous man how he learned to grow food and medicine for him and his family. You will walk a farm designed and planted by him while learning the techniques.
Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Cost: $25 per person (or $50 if one person)
Your participation helps support our educational programs we run within the local schools. We hope to show our grandparents' way of life still has value. We hope that students take these lessons back home with them and share their enthusiasm with their parents and grandparents, calling forth memories and providing inspiration. We are SO excited about providing this service to our community. THANK-YOU for your support!